LESSON 5

Popular literature contains writings that are

intended for the masses and those that find
favour with large audiences.

In this lesson, you will be acquainted with

the nature, appeal and social functions of
popular literature.
I. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF LITERATURE
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF LITERATURE?

Literature can be defined as an expression of

human feelings, thoughts, and ideas whose
medium is language, oral and written.

It is not only about human ideas, thoughts, and

feelings but also about experiences of the
authors.It can be medium for human to
communicate what they feel, think, experience
to the readers.
 • ‘LITERATURE’ BASED ON DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEWS

• Literature is art.
• Literature is language.
• Literature is aesthetic.
• Literature is fictional.
• Literature is expressive.
• Literature is affective.
• Literature is everything in print.
• It means any writing can be categorized as
literature.
LITERATURE DIFFER FROM ORDINARY SPOKEN OR WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Literature uses special words, structures, and characteristics.

Primarily the language of literature differs from ordinary language in
three ways:

1.) Language is concentrated and meaningful.

2.) Its purpose is not simply to explain, argue, or make a point but
rather to give a sense of pleasure in the discovery of new experience.

3.) It demands intense concentration from the readers. It indicates

that the language of literature has originality, quality, creativity, and
pleasure.
LITERATURE AS ART FORM
1. IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
• Is highly ‘connotative’ which means words that used in literary
works have feeling and shades of meaning that words tend to
evoke.
• Imaginative literature or “literature of power” includes poems,
short stories, novels, and plays. It interprets human experience
by presenting actual truths about particular events.

2. NON-IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
• Means that the words refer to meaning in dictionary.
• Non-Fictional Literature or “literature of knowledge” includes
biographies, and essays which presents actual facts, events,
experiences and ideas.
 II. APPEAL

Something that makes the viewers or

readers attracted and interested in
the literary piece.
IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTION
Ideological function shapes our way of thinking based on the ideas
of other people. Literature also displays a person’s ideology placed
in the textconsciously and unconsciously.

MORAL FUNCTION
Literature may impart moral values to its readers. The morals
contained in a literary text, whether good or bad are absorbed by
whoever reads it, thus helps in shaping their personality.

LINGUISTIC FUNCTION
Literature preserves the language of every civilization from where
it originated. They are also evidences that a certain civilization has
existed by recording the language and preserving it through wide
spans of time.
CULTURAL FUNCTION
Literature orients us to the traditions, folklore and the arts of our ethnic
group’s heritage. It preserves entire cultures and creates an imprint of
the people’s way of living for others to read, hear and learn.

EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION
Literature teaches us of many things about the human experience. It is
used to portray the facets of life that we see, and those that we would
never dream of seeing. Literature therefore, is a conduct for the chance
to experience and feel things where we can learn things about life.

HISTORICAL FUNCTION
Ancient texts, illuminated scripts, stone tablets etc. keeps a record of
events that happened in the place where they originated. Thus, they
serve as time capsules of letters that are studies by scholars and
researchers of today.
 LESSON 6

POPULAR
LITERARY GENRES
POPULAR LITERATURE GENRES:

1. Romance
2. Science Fiction
3. Detective Story
4. Comic Books
5. Comic Strips
 I. ROMANCE
WHAT IS A ROMANCE?

In the strictest academic terms, a romance

is a narrative genre in literature that
involves a mysterious, adventurous, or
spiritual story line where the focus is on a
quest that involves bravery and strong
values, not always a love interest.

However, modern definitions of romance also

include stories that have a relationship
issue as the main focus.
 EXAMPLES OF ROMANCE

In the academic sense, an example of a

romance is a story in which the main
character is a hero who must conquer
various challenges as part of a quest.
Each challenge could be its own story
and can be taken out of the overall
story without harming the plot.
 EXAMPLE 1

A knight who wishes to prove himself by recovering a stolen

heirloom from an enemy may find himself attempting to make his
way through a dangerous wood filled with thieves.Once he has
accomplished this challenge, he may find himself climbing a tall
mountain on which a group of people are in trouble. He would save
the group somehow, and then move on. Then the final stage: the
enemy’s kingdom. There may be a fair maiden whom he meets and
somehow helps or rescues, or perhaps she helps him. But the fair
maiden is not the focus of the story – his quest is the focus. Each
story can be taken out, yet each builds the hero’s strength to face
his final quest. These stories tend to be serious rather than
humorous and
 EXAMPLE 2

A modern romance would include:

The story of a character who keeps meeting the wrong type of

people in his or her relationships or has run into a problem with a
current love relationship. The story would focus on the struggles the
character faces while finding Mr. or Mrs. Right. The whole focus
would be the relationship, although the character may also be
dealing with other struggles, such as losing a job, handling difficult
parents, etc. These stories may be funny, sad, tragic, serious, or a
mix. The obvious resolution to the conflict would be finding the right
person or saving the present relationship.
TYPES OF ROMANCE
A. GOTHIC
B. HISTORICAL
C. CONTEMPORARY
• a. GOTHIC
In Gothic romance, the settings are usually in distant regions
and the stories feature dark and compelling characters. They
became popular in the late 19th century and usually had a
sense of transcendence, supernatural, and irrationality.
Popular Gothic novels still read by many high school students
today are classics such as:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
b. HISTORICAL
Historical romance takes place in times long past and
appears romantic due tothe adventure and wildness of the
time. This also provides value and meaning to thelifestyle
of the characters. The following novels fit in this sub-
genre:

• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

• Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
c. CONTEMPORARY/MODERN
Contemporary romance focuses on a love relationship and has a
happy ending. There are two ways these romance novels are
written: as a series or category romance (the author writes a
succession of books that fit a theme or follow a storyline) or as a
single-title romance. Even more so, within the sub-genre romance,
and as seen in many movies, there can be:
• comedy-romance
• tragic-romance
• satire-romance
• serious romance
• THE IMPORTANCE OF ROMANCE

• Romance is a natural human emotion. Sad love songs and poems

when one is recovering from a broken heart can help express
unspoken feelings.

• Happy romantic movies and plays help people feel optimistic that
someday they will also find true love.

• However, there is some criticism that many modern romantic

stories make people develop unrealistic views about real
relationships, as they expect love to be like it is in the movies.
II. SCIENCE FICTION
Science fiction, often called “sci-fi,” is a genre of fiction
literature whose content is imaginative, but based in
science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and
principles as support for its settings, characters, themes,
and plot-lines, which is what makes it different from
fantasy.
Its true popularity for both writers and audiences came
with the rise of technology over the past 150 years, with
developments such as electricity, space exploration,
medical advances, industrial growth, and so on. As science
and technology progress, so does the genre of science
fiction.
TYPES OF SCIENCE FICTION
Science fiction is usually distinguished as either “hard” or “soft.”
1. Hard science fiction
Hard science fiction strictly follows scientific facts and principles.
It is strongly focused on natural sciences like physics, astronomy,
chemistry, astrophysics, etc.
2. Soft science fiction
Soft science fiction is characterized by a focus on social sciences,
like anthropology, sociology, psychology, and politics— in other
words, sciences involving human behavior.
In truth, most works use a combination of both hard and soft
science fiction.
IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE FICTION
Many times, science fiction turns real scientific
theories into full stories about what is possible and/or
imaginable.
Many stories use hard facts and truths of sciences
to:suggest what could really happen in the future to
explore what could happen if certain events or
circumstances came to be or suggest consequences of
technological and scientific advancements and
innovation.
III. DETECTIVE STORY
Detective story, type of popular literature in which a crime is
introduced and investigated and the culprit is revealed. The
traditional elements of the detective story are:
(1) the seemingly perfect crime;
(2) the wrongly accused suspect at whom circumstantial
evidence points;
(3) the bungling of dim-witted police;
(4) the greater powers of observation and superior mind of the
detective; and
(5) the startling and unexpected denouement, in which the
detective reveals how the identity of the culprit was
ascertained
IV. COMIC BOOK
A magazine that presents a serialized story in the form
of a comic strip, typically featuring the adventures of a
superhero. A comic is bound collection of comic strips,
usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a
single story or a series of different stories
V. COMIC STRIPS / STORY BOARD
A sequence of drawings, either in color or black and white,
relating a comic incident, an adventure or mystery story,
etc., often serialized, typically having dialogue printed in
balloons, and usually printed as a horizontal strip in daily
newspapers.
 LESSON 7:

ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES IN
POPULAR
LITERATURE
Literature is in crisis.
People don’t read anymore.
Change is inevitable; the question is, what changes are good, and which are to be fought?
Literature is worth fighting for.

1. Post modernism 5.No automatic connection

to a job after college.
2. Mass Media
6. Inaccessibility
3. Lots of books are bad
7.Overly-academic
4. Rise of other
language
academic subjects 8. Death of aesthetics
 CLASS SCHEDULE

JANUARY 24, 2023

• 6:00 PM ONWARDS
LESSON 7-10

JANUARY 31, 2023

• FINAL EXAMINATION
• DEADLINE OF SUBMISSION FOR
SPOKEN WORD POETRY
THANK YOU
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